In literature, an object with human characteristics is called ‘personification‘.
Granting an animal human-like characteristics is called ‘anthropomorphism‘. (Anthropo = human being, as in ‘anthropology’. ‘Morph’ = change.)
Both personification and anthropomorphism are types of metaphors.
What do you call it when it’s the other way round? i.e., when a human being is compared to an animal by virtue of animal characteristics? Reverse personification?
Someone on Urban Dictionary notes that fantasy lovers have their own words for such things:
ANTHRO
An animal with human-like characteristics. A human with animal-like characteristics can also be called an anthro, but technically they are not. An anthro is, technically, an animal that can: a) walk upright, b) talk, or talk somewhat (AKA has human vocal chords), c) has human features (i.e. a centaur, half human, half horse), d) has the bone structure of a human, with some of its animal counterpart (i.e. a cat-anthro that although looks like a human, can jump like a cat). These characteristics separate anthros from humans with cat ears and tail (or something like that).
It is common in literature to imbue a human character with animal characteristics, even when the genre is not speculative. We are used to basic animal metaphors in daily life e.g.
- women as cats
- picky eaters as birds
- men as pigs
- thin people as stick insects
In literature, the metaphor may be short-lived e.g. a single observation.
e.g. ‘I love your dress,’ she purred.
As children we get used to reading books where the people are ostensibly animals – they have the heads and bodies of animals but essentially behave like humans.
Even authors of adult work make use of extended animal metaphor, and can continue animal characteristics across an entire story. In some cases, character-as-animal comprises the main beef of the story and is integral to the plot.
Here are some examples:
1. Caleb by Gary Crew
illustrated by Steven Woolman
Gary Crew never reveals the exact nature of Caleb van Doorn, but we are given plenty of clues that he is not quite human:
First, the narrator is ‘fascinated by insects’, and is fascinated especially by his room mate. Caleb van Doorn has insect-like qualities:
It was his voice that I heard first. A peculiar chirping sound that seemed to emanate from the back of his throat, rather than the larynx.
He was tall, well over six foot, and very thin. His head – which was little more than a skull with skin stretched over it – protruded from a high-collared shirt.
The description of the skull is reminiscent of an exoskeleton.
His acute thinness was accentuated by a loose-fitting vest of tan suede and a pair of dark-brown, heavily ribbed corduroy trousers pinched at the waist by a wide, black leather belt.
The belt sounds like it divides the body in two, seeming to create an insect-like division between abdomen and thorax.
The human race is filled with gangly youths, but it was Caleb’s eye-glasses – he was wearing pince-nez, a type of wingless spectacles that clamp on the bridge of the nose – which focused attention upon his most remarkable eyes. Blue-green they were, almost iridescent, while their unnatural enormity was further increased by the magnification of the lenses.
The eyes are a feature commonly described when authors offer thumbnail descriptions of a character. It’s not surprising that this feature is regularly highlighted in animal metaphors too.
‘Confined spaces don’t bother me,’ he answered. ‘Besides, look at this window. I can see the whole street. And the park.’
Physical similarities are only the start; once this has been set up, the author continues to find ways in which the character behaves like an insect would, or rather, as an insect would if that insect were human. Above, we have a creature used to small spaces (reminiscent of a chrysalis), and also one which either lives in trees or is used to flying, and most at home with a bird’s eye view of the world.
In lectures he was constantly wriggling, twisting this way and that and, worse, he had the habit of talking out loud… Curious little chirping noises he made…
2. The Ratcatcher by Roald Dahl
In this short story the first person narrator and his friend have a rat problem so they call on the Ratcatcher. The man they meet is very much like a rat himself, with long,sulphur coloured teeth, pointed ears and black eyes.
The man was lean brown with a sharp face and two long sulphur coloured teeth that protruded from the upper jaw, overlapping the lower lip, pressing it inwards. The ears were thin and pointed and set far back on the nape of the neck.
3. TRYING TO SAVE PIGGY SNEED BY JOHN IRVING
This is a short story about a man who was bullied, in which the other characters are forced to confront their own behaviour towards the bullied man after something unfortunate happens. The story is from Irving’s collection of the same name. Piggy Sneed (we don’t learn his real name) is taunted and teased by small-town children, who see a resemblance between the man and a pig:
We never bothered Mr Strout [the icebox man] either (because of his ice tongs and his fabulous aggression towards dogs, which we could easily imagine being turned towards us). But the garbage collector had nothing for us — no treats, no aggression — and so we children reserved our capacity for teasing and taunting (and otherwise making trouble) for him.
There were so many reasons for calling him ‘Piggy’, I wonder why one of us didn’t think of a more original name. To begin with, he lived on a pig farm. He raised pigs, he slaughtered pigs; more importantly, he lived with his pigs — it was just a pig farm, there was no farm house, there was only the barn. There was a single stovepipe running into one of the stalls. That stall was heated by a wood stove for Piggy Sneed’s comfort — and, we children imagined, his pigs (in the winter) would crowd around him for warmth. He certainly smelled that way.
Also he had absorbed, by the uniqueness of his retardation and by hisproximity to his animal friends, certain piglike expressions and gestures. His face would jut in front of his body when he approached the garbage cans, as if he were rooting (hungrily) underground; he squinted his small, red eyes; his nose twitched with all the vigor of a snout; there were deep pink wrinkles on the back of his neck — and the pale bristles, which sprouted at random along his jawline, in no way resembled a beard. He was short, heavy, and strong — he heaved the garbage cans to his back, he hurled their contents into the wooden, slat-sided truck bed.
- John Irving, from Trying To Save Piggy Sneed.
STRUCTURED WRITING ACTIVITY: ANIMAL CHARACTER SKETCH
Students might choose their own animals but this in itself takes time, so for a quicker set-up, print out one copy of the sheet below, chop them up and distribute animals at random.
ANIMAL CARDS CLASS SET (docx)
If students have internet access, give them ten minutes on Wikipedia to research their animal. On a blank sheet of paper, get them to pick out words which they could use in their story – words which are specific to their own animal. Ask them to make connections between the animal characteristics and human-equivalent characteristics. (They may or may not use these words and connections in their own story.)
e.g. The large, spherical compound eye of the fly might equal large glasses on a human. The talons of an eagle or hawk might equal long nails of a woman, or uncut, horny toenails on an old man.
ANIMAL-HUMAN STORY TEMPLATE (docx)
Some students may need no further prompting – they may be ready to start writing their story. Others might like to make use of the template above.
Be clear about what you, as teacher, are asking from the students: Do you want a simple snapshot, a character study? Or do you want a fully-fledged story? The character sketch may be completed in an hour, but a full story may need a week of classes and a gap between lessons to allow story ideas to develop.
For more Roald Dahl stories and teacher resources, available online, see RoaldDahlFans.com.
